Gridiron girls: Palm Desert athletes blaze trail for newest high school sport in desert
Quarterback Isabella Gonzalez dropped back to pass, surveyed the field and tried to avoid the oncoming rush. Two defenders were bearing down, colliding with her as she threw the ball just before her flag was grabbed.
"The first thing I learned right away in our first game was I see why we have to wear a mouthguard," Gonzalez said with a smile. "It's a little more physical than I thought, but I'm having so much fun."
Gonzalez is one of 17 players on the Palm Desert High School girls' flag football team, the first of its kind in the valley. This is the first year that girls' flag football has been sanctioned as an official high school sport by the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body of high school sports in the state.
The team has played three games and will compete in the first-ever sanctioned flag football game in the desert when they host Vista Del Lago on Wednesday, Sept. 27. Girls' flag football games are 7-on-7 and consist of two 20-minute running-clock halves.
"To be honest, it just sort of seems natural for all of us girls to be out here running around and working together," said Ainsley Risenmay, a wide receiver who also plays soccer and runs track for the Aztecs. "I've always loved football growing up. I have four brothers and would always play with them so it's really nice to have something like this, and there's something kind of cool about learning and playing a new sport and going through that with my team."
The Aztecs won their first game, beating Rosemead High 6-0, but lost their next two, a pair of 26-0 losses to San Gorgonio High. Risenmay scored the team's first (and only) touchdown so far, and she said it was a moment she'll never forget.
"Our QB Bella threw this incredible ball right in my hands and I just caught it and took off," she said. "There was a moment where I looked back and I thought someone had me, but I was like 'Not today' and kept going."
The team's origin story
When news broke in the spring that CIF was introducing girls' flag football for the fall season, coach Dani Oswood's ears perked up. Oswood, a girls' basketball and softball coach at the school and an avid advocate for girls' sports, was excited about the possibilities and dove in head-first.
She wasn't sure how much interest there would be, but she posted a sign-up sheet for an informal meeting in April.
"About 35 girls showed up and that's when I knew this was something that would work here," Oswood said. "The girls were excited and they were asking all these smart questions about it. Then we had a little tryout, and they were having so much fun just simply throwing and catching the ball. We had something."
So Oswood made her pitch to athletic director Estevan Valencia, and he was behind the idea. They worked together to figure out logistics such as football field practice time, transportation to away games and officials for home games.
The team fund-raised to pay for uniforms and gear, and the school paid for travel expenses and officials.
"Coach Oswood deserves all the credit for making this happen, I'm just adding support as an AD," Valencia said. "It gives girls another opportunity to play a sport and be a part of something. I like that we're kind of being the leaders on this, the first ones in the district. We're just sort of doing a trial by fire and learning on the go, but it's great. The day of one of their games the girls were walking the halls at school with their jerseys on like the boys' football team does on game days. I thought that was pretty awesome to see."
The Desert Sands Unified School District is supportive of the team, but like with any new CIF sport, they are treating it like a club at first to see if it is sustainable. If after a year or two, it's clear there is a solid backing for the team, then the district will consider it an official sport and come through with stipends for funding the sport such as paying a coach's salary.
A good comparison is girls' wrestling, which started in the district as a club sport at Shadow Hills. After a few years the participation grew and the district recognized it as an official sport, and now all four district high schools have girls' wrestling.
A statement from David Gustafson, the district's senior director of Educational Services, explained the process this way: "For flag football to get started at PDHS, it would need to follow a similar trajectory that girls wrestling took. It would need to start off as a site-supported club. Once a team can demonstrate sustained student interest, additional area teams are fielded, and competition schedules fill, we would absolutely look at bringing these sports forward for coaching stipends as part of the (collective bargaining agreement). For perspective, girls wrestling was negotiated into the CBA in the third year."
The rules
Aside from the obvious differences with no tackling, no helmets, no pads and seven players instead of 11, there are a number of different rules compared to high school football.
Tackling: Each player is outfitted with a belt that has three flags hanging from it, one on the left hip, one on the right hip and one on the backside. The flags are strips of cloth 2-inches wide and 14-inches long. You rip off any of the three flags from a ball-carrier's belt and she is tackled. Defenders must always be making a play for the flags, they can not try to knock the football out of a ball-carrier's hand.
Field size: Legally a field can be anywhere between 50 and 80 yards long, but Oswood said every game they've played has been on an 80-yard field, and the games they host will be 80 yards. The width must be between 30 and 40 yards, slightly smaller than the width of a traditional football field which is 53.3 yards.
No kicking: There is no kicking in a flag football game. If you score a touchdown you can try for a 1-point extra point from the 5-yard line or a 2-point extra point from the 10-yard line. Instead of kickoffs each team starts at the 20-yard line. If you choose to "punt" you give the ball over to the other team at their 20-yard line.
First downs: Just like traditional football, you have four downs to get a first down, but in flag football you have to get 20 yards, not 10, to get a first down.
No-run zone: On an offensive play, a flag football team can run or pass. However, once the team has advanced the ball to within five yards of a first down or a touchdown, it must be a pass play. In other words, you can't do a short run for a first down or touchdown.
Pass rush: A team can have a maximum of two defenders rush the passer but they must start 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage. There is no offensive line or blocking. All six other players on the field with the QB are eligible receivers.
Avoiding tackles: When a tackle attempt is happening, the ball-carrier can not jump, spin or stiff-arm to try to prevent their flag from being pulled.
Doubleheaders: Since games almost always last less than an hour (two running 20-minute halves with a 5-minute halftime), most of the Aztecs' schedule consists of doubleheaders. They play the same team twice in back-to-back games. It's a good way to get in as many games as possible.
Other notable items: Mouthguards are mandatory ... The size of the football is slightly smaller than a boys' high school football ... Fumbling is not a thing. If a player fumbles, the ball is dead when it hits the ground ... Overtime is similar to college football with alternating possessions from the 20-yard line.
Breaking ground
There is a feeling among the players on the team and coach Oswood that they are pioneers for the sport in the desert. They hope that other schools see what they're doing and start up similar teams. In fact, that's already happening.
Desert Hot Springs High School gauged interest in the idea at the start of the school year and according to athletic director Kai Lyles they had more than 20 girls willing to participate so they too have started a team. They have been practicing, but haven't played a game yet. In fact, they contacted Palm Desert and the two teams scheduled a game at Palm Desert on Oct. 3, which will be the first-ever game for the Golden Eagles.
"I feel like girls' flag football is going to be popular and is here to stay, so why not be on the forefront of it," Lyles said.
Oswood admits she definitely wishes something like this existed when she was in high school, and she's heard from a lot of her former players who just graduated that they would've played. She's confident it's not going away any time soon.
"I like to think that we're showing people that this is not just a fad. It's going to continue to get bigger and bigger," she said. "The girls are having fun, but I don't want people to think they aren't taking it seriously. They want to be great flag football players. They learn something every game, and we do our little chalk talk where I give them notes and they tell me things they see out there or are curious about."
The players agree with that sentiment. Gonzalez said she's learned a lot about the game already but is striving to get better, and she likes the pressure that comes with being the quarterback.
"I didn't realize how complicated football really was, especially at QB you really have to scan the field, know your players, know their routes. It's a hard position, but I love it," said Gonzalez while wearing one of those special wristbands that have all the plays listed on them like you see in the NFL. "I like the pressure of the position. I've got the ball in my hands, the girls are out there doing their best and I'm just trying to get it to them."
Risenmay had some matter-of-fact advice for any girl thinking about playing flag football.
"Just do it. Full send," she said. "It's been a really great experience. Even if you just want to do it to stay in shape or just try something new, it's fun. You'll be glad you did."
Madeleine Scott, one of two seniors on the team, said there's a different sort of camaraderie on this team compared to the soccer and softball teams she also plays on, and it comes from the fact that none of them have played the sport before so they're learning together. The terminology, the strategies, it's been a crash course, and she said she's become very aware of it on Friday nights.
"I've learned a lot about what's going on out there, and I love that," Scott said. "Like normally when I go to a school football game it's to hang out with friends and show school spirit, but now I actually pay attention to the plays and I can tell what went wrong or I'll say to myself 'I would've done this if that was me.'"
And that's really what's exciting about this new opportunity for athletes like Scott. She doesn't have to say "if that was me" anymore. Thanks to girls' flag football, now it is her.
Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.
Roster and schedule
Here are the 17 girls making history as the inaugural girls' flag football team at Palm Desert along with their schedule:
THE ROSTER
Ilsi Alvarado (Soph.)
Isabella Bringas (Soph.)
Aspen Flatt (Soph.)
Isabella Gonzalez (Jr.)
Sienna Guillermo (Soph.)
Chloe Huse (Frosh)
Olyvia Lugo-Alvarez (Soph.)
Victoria Martin (Frosh)
Isabel Martinez (Soph.)
Angelina medina (Soph.)
Gabriella Noriega (Soph.)
Natalie Rey (Sr.)
Ainsley Risenmay (Soph.)
Francesca Rivera (Frosh)
Madeleine Scott (Sr.)
Marley Van Pelt (Soph.)
Dayna Vejar (Frosh)
THE SCHEDULE
Sept. 6: Palm Desert 6, Rosemead 0
Sept. 12: (DH) San Gorgonio 26, Palm Desert 0 and San Gorgonio 26, Palm Desert 0
Sept. 21: (DH) at Aliso Niguel 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
Sept. 27: (DH) Vista Del Lago at Palm Desert 3:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m.
Oct. 3: (DH) Desert Hot Springs at Palm Desert 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
Oct. 7: Showcase at King High School with games vs. King High (9 a.m.) and Riverside Poly (10:30 a.m.)
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Flag football: Palm Desert girls blaze trail for newest high school sport
